It may be Don’s story, but ex-wife Betty ran away with this episode – and that was grand. First if not foremost, consider Betty and her chafing dish, her menu of crab louie on toast points, rumaki and little franks with bbq sauce: a walking dictionary of ’50s nostalgia, right there uncomfortably located in the ’60s. Betty and second husband Henry (“Leave the thinking to me!”) are a snapshot of what was sexist, stuffy and outmoded in the Nixon era. Betty is getting tired of being pushed around (“I’m not stupid, I speak Italian.”) While daughter Sally sees the depressing truth of their sad lives. Betty is furious that Sally may have broken her nose, her best and maybe only gift to her daughter.

At the office, the hum of the new computer is driving Ginsberg crazy. Literally. Something has pushed him over the edge, may as well blame it on the machine. (“That machine, it came for us!” “Get out while you can!”) The shot of Lou and Jim talking, allowing only lip-reading, was a nice nod to HAL9000. Lou reveals his cartoon sideline, and calls his underlings “flag-burning snots.”

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.